Drunken U of M rioters still might get busted with photo evidence

If you were one of the idiots jumping over (and into) the giant bonfire in the Dinkytown street Saturday and then throwing your empty bottle at a cop that you claimed was ruining your good time, you still might get busted even if the police didn't catch you.

The University of Minnesota plans to launch a website with a collection of riot photos in hopes that students will snitch on each other. Students identified on the site could face disciplinary action on campus, including expulsion, for their participation.

While it might seem a little silly to expect other students to tattle on each other for fun, U of M officials aren't worried about it. They say enough students are upset the riot happened and embarrassed that it reflects poorly on all students at the school. And frankly we'd hope there are more smart students to outnumber the idiot bottle throwers.

"The last time we had to do this, enough people cared about the community to come forward and identify those who were involved," Rinehart told the Star Tribune. "Clearly no one likes to be a rat, so I'm sure that will be an issue, but this is a case where the students are very upset with what happened because of the very nature of this group."

Six students were ticketed by police during the riot and they will already be reviewed by the U of M for possible disciplinary action. What students might not realize is that there doesn't have to be any police charges or evidence for the U of M to take action against the students for their participation.

Punishment could range from probation, suspension, or expulsion.

Minnesota Daily Editor in Chief Vadim Lavrusik says the student paper has more than 1,000 photos taken by the staff from the incident, but they will not turn them over to the school to be used to punish students. Lavrusik says they don't turn over photos for investigations to punish students.

Reminder: Just because you aren't in high school anymore doesn't mean your school doesn't babysit you even when you leave campus grounds. Lesson learned, right?